Corona for Freelance Musicians
Honestly, I'm starting to reach the end of my patience with the coronavirus rules that are completely shitty for freelancers and casuals, that seem to be just geared for people with salaried jobs. I'm pretty civic minded, and so if I'm nearing the end of my patience with this sort of thing... then I'm pretty damn sure that most people will have have already fallen off the cranky end a long time ago!
So, just to describe what I do... I'm a Early Music specialist... and most of the work in this sphere is freelance... these are small flexible chamber ensembles, not those monstrous giant symphonic orchestras (although I play in those as a casual as well...) that often have salaried positions. Given that much of the workforce these days is casualised, I'm pretty sure that my gripes will have similar echoes in much of the workforce at large.
So, when a project begins... it is common to do a antigen test before the first rehearsal and then at regular checkpoints (depending on the group) throughout the project. That can range from a week long project through to a month long one...
Until recently, casualised workforce in Australia were compensated if they lost work... but that has recently been removed. I'm not even sure that that ever applied to freelance musicians and other artists... anyway, that was a basic economic incentive... if you are going to lose a week to a month's worth of work due to testing positive and doing the RIGHT thing and going into isolation... then you shouldn't find yourself completely without income for that period!
...seems like a no-brainer right? Especially in this climate of increasing inflation and cost of living...
So, these emergency measures ran out at the end of June in Australia... and I just listened to an interview with the new treasurer who refused to commit to extending it... citing, economic pressures on the national budget... sure, that is that... but there is also an incoming wave of Omicron variants and if you are going to have us isolate, well... then you can bloody well compensate for lost income. The problems of the national budget (fairly sheeted home to he last government...) is not of my concern at the moment, and to be honest, if the original coronavirus measures didn't pay out millions upon millions to profitable COMPANIES who rorted the system to continue to MAKE PROFIT without a claw-back clause... well, that is sheer idiocy in government support and targeting. Again... I'm a fan of a governmental welfare layer (social-liberal democracies like Australia and Europe), but idiotic spending that is lobbied for by companies is NOT the same thing. Honestly, I expected better of the new incoming Centre-Left Labour party...
Anyway... it would be no surprise if the coronavirus mess got out of hand again... we have a large casualised workforce... and who the hell is going to test, or admit to being positive and lose a chunk of work in this inflated and high cost of living economy. Even I have second thoughts, and am taking as FEW tests as possible. And remember... I'm not in the financially desperate boat (yet...), and I'm relatively civic minded...
Anyway, this morning... before catching my flight at 5 in the morning... I had a mandated (from the ensemble) test before joining the current project. I was nervous, there were people in the previous project that had fallen ill... and the chance was there that I could lose this entire month's worth of work (this is a large project...) and come away with a monthly income of zero.
Thankfully... only a single line. Safe for the moment... at least I will start the project, and if I'm lucky I will finish it.
This is the current life of a freelance musician... it sucks, there is so much out of your hands... and everything hinges on a few tests. Governments NEED to reinstate the income compensation if they still think that the pandemic is worth addressing. Either that, or just forget about the whole thing... without the support, it is just all going to fall apart.
Maybe we just need the people making the rules to roll a dice every day (to simulate a test...). If they roll snake eyes, then they lose a month's salary and then they can figure out how to pay the bills.
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I can't even imagine that feeling...waiting for it to be a single line or else facing a month of no income.
I'm so glad it's only a single line for you now!!! but I can feel anxiety building in my heart just thinking when it won't be!
and sad for those who already are out of work and no options!!!
I don't really know what the answer is ...but I suspect that it will be as you say. .people won't be able to afford to test and be out of work, and ....starve??? so they will pass on the testing and hope for the best??
sigh. It's such a desperate feeling. I'm so sorry you're going through it
Ah well.. I'm far from the worst affected, so there is some solace in that at least. I do much prefer to be on stage and doing stuff, so I prefer that there is only one line.. but if there are two, well, there could be worse things I guess!
Hold on! We luckily are without any measures still here in Western Europe. Quickly going on holiday myself his wednesday! Austria and Italy.
Oooh, sounds like fun! I get the impression that the rest of the world has pretty much finished with it all, but Australia is a little bit behind on that!
It must be rough, sorry. Good luck👍
Ah well, the suspense isn't that much fun... but there are worse things that could happen!
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That's a pain in the ass, and this Rona stuff is completely overblown. With elections coming up in the US, which seems to set the pace for the rest of the world on this insanity, I think that this coming end of the year is going to be when things suddenly come back with some other horse shit variation. The nature of viruses is they mutate! We will never, ever be able to eliminate a Coronavirus so these policies are more about destroying peoples lives, finances and bodies more than anything. There is little realistic science (not just some Fizer sponsored study to promote their products) to justify this craziness.
Be careful of that slippery slope of demanding sick pay like that. It's a slippery slope that is heading down. Citizens need help, yes but at the same time we should be fiscally responsible to be able to keep ourselves in a good spot in case we have to miss work for a bit of time. The more we depend on and rely on the government the more control they have over the citizens. We know one thing governments love is control, we best not give them total control of our lives!
I think that the fiscal responsibility thing comes with the assistance being correctly targeted. We are in an economic mess partly due to the fact that money was just splashed everywhere, and very little made it to the people that actually needed it.... instead, much of it (in Australia) going to companies that ended up making huge profits anyway, and with no claw-back clause.